Sony plans for a live-action Captain Planet film

I knew it was only a matter of time before a light bulb appeared over someone’s head about a Captain Planet film after Don Cheadle made that hilarious short for Funny or Die. Once someone saw the internets’ mildly sustained interest in yet another 80’s cartoon and the subsequent thought to exploit that interest with a film.

Sony Pictures is in final negotiations to pick up the rights to 1990s series “Captain Planet and the Planeteers” for a feature adaptation to be produced by Mark Gordon, Don Murphy and Susan Montford, says The Hollywood Reporter…

…The series was about a group of young people who combine their special powers (The Planeteers) to summon Captain Planet, an environmental superhero, to battle the world’s worst eco-villains.

Andrea Giannetti will oversee the project for the studio.

Captain Planet and the Planeteers is one of those cartoons I obsessed over as a kid. I knew the characters, the mythos, and may have seen every episode. Sure the film will foster intrigue toward an appearance by Captain Pollution, but I have my apprehensions about this idea.

The idealist in me can imagine some fun scenes and scenarios with 4 characters manipulating the elements of earth, wind, water, and fire in some remarkable ways and mankind’s reaction to their feats. The one power that is completely unpredictable is the power of Heart. The idealist in me thinks this could be a great idea and a great time to bring back the character and the morals that came with, but then I start thinking about some of the worst 80’s revival offenders in recent memory and their impact on my outlook.